What to Do for Christmas

After the Halloween feast, Christmas was fast approaching.

The Hogwarts year was divided into three terms: the first ran from September until the week before Christmas; the second began on Epiphany and lasted until Easter; the third began after the Easter holiday, with summer vacation officially starting in the second week after exams ended.

When Professor McGonagall took down the names, Evita hesitated for a while but ultimately chose to stay at school. The holiday wasn't very long, and going back for Christmas wasn't worth it. She didn't place nearly as much importance on Christmas as the locals did.

Although she would still be confined to the castle and its surroundings, there was a different kind of pleasure in exploring the school as it gradually emptied out. She could sneak into the other houses' common rooms, for example, or try breaking into the Headmaster's Office.

The item she needed was simple. Wanting to try a different approach, Evita boldly gulped down an Invisibility Potion, then fell silent as she watched her faintly visible outline in the mirror. This didn't seem any different from breaking the rules under her own name.

Unwilling to give up, she drank another two bottles of Invisibility Potion in succession. Once she was completely invisible, she stood confidently outside the Gryffindor Common Room and reached out like lightning to knock on the Fat Lady.

"Password," the Fat Lady said with a yawn, her eyes half-open.

What password? Evita was a little troubled. Deciding to give it a try, she disguised her voice and attempted to work through every possibility, but not one succeeded. She had no choice but to slink away, leaving the Fat Lady looking around in shock from inside her frame.

The first step of her castle exploration had ended in failure. Before the Invisibility Potion wore off, she darted downstairs and passed straight through Peeves's body.

A chill swept over her, and Evita looked back. Peeves floated in the air, bewildered, before shaking his head and carelessly lying in wait atop a statue. It looked as though he meant to wait there for a student to pass by, then push the statue's head down to give them a fright.

Peeves's pranks were always this simple and straightforward. Relying on her invisibility, Evita waited beside him.

The first victim soon appeared: a Gryffindor student who had stayed at school. The statue's head began to tumble down. Quick as a flash, Evita pulled out a wand and said, "Inflating Charm."

The head floated upward, passing through Peeves's chin. He looked around and floated after the sound. Evita quickly turned and raced downstairs, trying not to make the slightest noise. Then she abruptly stopped and pressed herself against the wall.

The sound had suddenly vanished, but Peeves didn't stop floating in time. Evita slipped into the library, sat down openly, and waited for the potion to wear off. She even borrowed two books to read.

Madam Pince nodded to her and asked gently, "What are you looking for, child?"

"Books on Potions," Evita replied, "such as Advanced Potion-Making."

"On that shelf over there." Madam Pince pointed her in the right direction.

"Thank you." Evita happily walked over and pulled out the book to read.

By the time she returned to the dormitory, the House-elves had already stacked her presents neatly at the foot of her bed. Lily had sent her a novel kind of color-changing ink; James had sent a Nose-Biting Teacup; Sirius's gift was a very sharp little knife, presumably because he wanted Evita to become a close-combat wizard.

Lupin had sent her a hat; it seemed things had been going quite well for him lately. Harry had written her a letter saying he missed her, complete with a little handprint, pitifully asking why Sister Evita hadn't been playing with him lately.

Old Bathilda had sent books; Hagrid had sent a whistle he'd made himself; Tina had sent a very interesting book from which little figures popped out when it was opened; Newt's gift was From Dragon Egg to Inferno: A Dragon-Keeper's Guide.

Theseus's gift was similar in style to his younger brother's, though he had sent Weird Wizarding Dilemmas and Their Solutions; Queenie had sent a big pile of magazines, along with a whole box of bread Jacob had made.

There were also various congratulatory cards sent collectively by the professors. After she had finished opening her presents, the owl Evita had sent out returned. She went into the space and gave presents to the Fantastic Beasts as well. There wasn't much, but the thought was certainly there.

And so the Christmas holiday passed in a routine of reading and studying, and the second term soon began.

Evita was making quite good progress with her studies. Transfiguration, Charms Class, and Dark Magic Defence Class were purely magical subjects. Potions Class gave her a bit of the feeling of studying chemistry in her previous life, thought Evita, who had studied science before transmigrating.

History of Magic was her least favorite. Every lesson, all she could do was clutch her quill and listen to Professor Binns lecture on the International Confederation of Wizards of 1289 in his dry, low, monotonous voice. It was dull and boring. Evita propped her forehead on her hand in agony, forcing her eyes open as she listened to Professor Binns say slowly, "This conference brought the wizards..."

When she grew sleepier and sleepier, she stopped fighting it. She openly took out Moste Potente Potions, which she had obtained from the Restricted Section, and prepared to develop some new products for the shop.

Fortunately, she had a note signed by Professor Sprout herself. Evita leafed through the book, and her eyes soon lit up.

A potion that could change a wizard's body, briefly giving them animal ears or wings; a potion that let the drinker breathe fire; a potion that allowed someone to float for a short time...

She copied down the recipes for the potions that interested her, then turned her attention to her Astronomy star chart and Potions Class homework. In short, she did everything except listen to History of Magic, planning to worry about it when exams came.

During the Easter holiday, Evita again chose to stay at school. Lily and Newt had always been the people she wrote to more frequently, and this time was no exception. As usual, she also received replies from several people, occasionally with something from Harry included.

There was Lily, who gave her Potions advice from afar; Newt, who answered questions about Fantastic Beasts; James, who kept urging her to play Quidditch and included countless explanations; Tina, who patiently explained the finer points of Charms; and Sirius, who sometimes appeared directly by Floo Powder.

His figure flickered in the fireplace flames, and his tone was hard to read. "You're not going to stuff them all into my house, are you?"

Evita crouched in front of the fireplace, holding a Kneazle, with a Bowtruckle and a Golden Snidget perched on her shoulders. She honestly shook her head. "Of course not. It's just that they miss their friends too."

Sirius lifted the Niffler, which had gradually climbed onto his head, and crouched in the otherwise empty Hufflepuff Common Room. "I don't have a single Galleon on me," he said calmly.

He even shook out his robes to show that he was telling the truth. The Niffler crawled away in disappointment, then climbed onto Evita's back and grabbed her silver hair.

Evita paid it no mind. Remembering her homework, she asked cheerfully, "Since you're here, how about helping me with some homework?"

Sirius immediately grabbed some Floo Powder and said goodbye without looking back as he left.